Bale band buckle



March 8, 1938.

E.A.FRANTZ BALE BAND BUCKLE Filed Feb. 9, 1937.

Patented Mar. 8, 1938 UNITED. STATES ATENT OFFICE BALE BAND BUCKLE Ezra A. Frantz, Weatherfcrd, Tex.

Application February 9, 1937, Serial No. 124,911

1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in fastening devices and, particularly, to buckles or tiesfor securing the ends of the bale bands used in the baling of cotton or other materials.

One object of the invention is to simplify the construction of the buckle and, consequently, the procedure necessary to form up the buckle, thus minimizing production costs.

Another object is to provide a buckle in which the ends of the bale band are securely held against slipping or creeping without imposing on said ends strains which will be apt to shear the latter. In the present instance, the buckle is formed with an opening through which the band ends are inserted with said ends engaging opposite walls of the opening and one or both of said opposite walls are so formed as to effect .a transverse distortion of the metal of the band end. However, this distortion is limited to a portion of the band spaced from the side edges. In the preferred construction, one or both of the band engaging edges of the buckle opening are formed with an intermediate dished portion and straight end portions but the length of said dished portion is less than the width of the band. As a result, the straight portions of said band-engaging edge or edges do not distort the band but the latter is distorted at its intermediate portion only by the dished portion of the edge of the buckle opening.

A still further object is to provide a buckle which, together with the band ends, can be readily assembled on a compressed bale and which when the pressure on the bale is released, will cause one band end to be bent in reverse directions, this bending of said end being accomplished solely by the strains imposed upon the band and buckle during expansion of the bale after release of said pressures.

With these and other objects in View, the in- 40 vention consists in certain details of construction and combinations and .arrangements of parts, all as will hereinafter be more fully described and the novel features thereof particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing- Figure l is an elevational view of the preferred form of the present buckle with the band ends inserted therein;

Fig. 2 is .a perspective view of the reverse side 50 of the buckle;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a similar view illustrating the relative positions of the buckle and band ends before release of pressure on the bale;

Fig. 5 is a front elevational view of a modified form of buckle;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5, one of the band ends being illustrated in this figure; and

Fig. '7 is a front view of the buckle and band of Figs. 5 and 6, illustrating the distortion of the band after the pressure on the bale has been released.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, thebuckle .or tieis stamped out of a metal blank, the blank being stamped to form an opening It into which the ends l1, l2 of the bale band are inserted from what, for convenience, may be termed the outer side of the buckle. In forming the opening Iii, the central portion of the blank is not detached but is bent inwardly and constitutes a tongue l3. As illustrated, the buckle may be said to consist of upper and lower cross bars I4, I5 and ends it, with the tongue l3 projecting inwardly from upper bar M. In applying the band and buckle to a bale, the band is placed around the bale and the ends thereof inserted in opening I I] while the buckle is held more or less at right angles to the surface of the bale. As will be understood, the bale is under compression at this time. When the ends are inserted with the buckle in this position, the band end II is bent around the tongue l3 as shown in Fig. 3. If desired, this end ll may be attached to the buckle before placing the band around the bale. In either event, when the end I2 is inserted, it bears against both the edge of the opening along lower bar l5 and the surface of the band around the edge of tongue l3, so that the tongue may be said to impinge against both ends of the band. The frictional engagement of end l2 with the buckle and tongue is such that when the pressure on the bale is released and tension placed on the band, said end It will not slip but, on the contrary, the buckle will be caused to turn .and assume the position shown in Fig. 4. This turning motion of the buckle will result in reverse bends being produced in band end l2 by the edge of lower bar l5 and the edge of tongue l3, the band also being pressed into the bale by said tongue.

This form of buckle thus greatly facilitates applying and securing the band around the bale 'in that one end of the band I2 in the present instance does not have to be bent by the opera tor, but is automatically distorted by the buckle during tensioning of the band, as just described. In order to prevent subsequent creeping of the band on the buckle, the edge of lower bar I5 against which band end I2 engages, may be formed with a dished or concave portion [1. This curved portion causes the band to be further distorted when tensioned on the bale, this distortion being best described as taking place transversely of the band. However, to reduce shearing of the band and excessive transverse deformation, this dished or concave formation of the edge of lower bar 15 is limited to the intermediate portion of the bar, the edge of said bar at the ends of opening l being straight. As .a result, an intermediate portion only of band end I2 is distorted by being pulled down, so to speak, into the intermediate concave portion of the buckle bar. This crimping or transverse'deformation by the dished portion I! insures an efiective binding of the band end in the buckle,

' the binding action increasing with the tensioning of the band. At the same time, unusually Jheavy -strains will not shear the hand because theprovision of straight edges at the ends of bar t5 .limits the deformation :or crimping of the iband to an intermediate portion thereof.

In theffcrm f buckle illustrated in Figs. '5 to .7, the central .portion :of :themetal blank is rebuckle :bars when the band is :applied to the bale.

It will be seen that either form of buckle can be produced at a very-low cost. A minimum amount of material can be used in forming the buckle and the operations required to be performed on the blank are few and inexpensive. If desired, depending upon the use to be made of the buckle, a comparatively light-weight metal can be used in the buckle. For instance, as illustrated in Fig. '7, a buckle can be made light enough to permit its being elongated by the strains transmitted thereto iby the tensioned band. This elongation of the buckle increases the curvature of the dished portions I! and this,

in turn, increases the transverse deformation of =the'band and the security of attachment of its rectangular opening extending therethrough, said opening being defined by substantially straight edges one .of which has an outwardly ooncaved portion, said .concaved portion being of :a length substantially half the length of the edge.

' EZRA A. FRANTZ. 

